Don't Feed The Swimmers
by Pxx and Axx
Summary: The story of Kagura before high school.
1. Let's Race

Her legs hurt, her lungs burned, and her head felt hot, but she couldn't bring herself to stop running. She had made a personal goal of hers to make it all the way to end of the block. As she reached the seventh house, her body began to give out. _No, no only three more houses. Come on._ She tried to speed up, looking to her left and seeing the eighth house through her bangs. _Why are these houses so wide? _All of a sudden, she just had to catch her breath and slowed to a stop as she reached the ninth house.

She pleased her hands on her knees and breathed heavily and quickly. She had the incentive to sit own on the curve. _Not healthy. Gotta walk it off._ She walked past the two remaining houses. "Almost made it," she said to no one in particular, only wanting verification of how far she ran. "Tomorrow, I'll make it." Of course, she always said this. She had started running everyday the year before, but for some reason she could never reach the end of the longest block she knew of. But, being very dedicated for a nine year old, Yuso Kagura wouldn't be satisfied until she accomplished the feat.

The young girl made her way back home. She realized she had run a little later than usual and it was getting dark really fast. She wondered if her mom would be mad. It was a hassle to get her mom to let her go running alone everyday. "Kids like you are always being picked up and kidnaped. Did you hear fifteen kids were kidnaped last month? Fifteen," is usually what her mom told her. "Why do you even want to do that anyways?" To be honest, she couldn't give an answer. She just enjoyed it. _Just like birds enjoy flying,_ she guessed. _Or fish enjoy swimming. Birds have wings, fish have fins and I have legs. I want to run._

The familiar setting of her neighborhood eased the fear she sometimes had when she was out alone. And as she reached her house, the warm smell of tonjiru made her realize she was hungry. She opened the door and was welcomed by the full impact of the scent. "I'm home!"

"Oh, Yu-chan! I was worried," her mother called from the kitchen. A few seconds later, she emerged as her daughter sat down on the couch. She kneeled down, grabbed her arm and began to formally inspect her.

Even though used to this happening every time she walked into the house after running, the nine year old couldn't help but let out an annoyed, "What are you doing?"

Satisfied with what she saw, she stood up. "Good no scratches." She inspected the girl's face. "Honestly. You need to do something about that hair. It's always so messy." She fussed through the nest that was the girl's light brown hair.

"I like my hair," was all she said."

Her mother just sighed. "Go eat. I've already set your plate." The daughter just nodded and went to the kitchen. "And when you're done, I want you to do your homework. Your teacher says you're slacking, and you need good grade to get into the nice high school I told you about."

**zzZzz**

She just stared at the blank paper in front of her, then to the book next to it, and then finally her journal with her assignment. She twirled the pencil in her hand and scratched her head, messing with her hair, in confusion. _I don't want to do this._ It wasn't that she didn't like school, she just didn't understand it. And wanted to do all her homework and get grades, but it was too hard. The only reason she tried was because she didn't want to disappoint her mother. _I'm only in fourth grade, and she's already talking to me about high school._ She stared at her paper. _The faster I finish this, the faster I can start playing my games._

**zzZzz**

The young girl was sitting at her desk waiting for class to start. Se heard a group of girls laughing two desks away from her. She suddenly found herself wishing she had more friends, but having switched schools three times, she was too shy to go up and introduce herself to anyone. She mostly stayed to herself. The bell rang and everyone who wasn't already at their desk, took their respective seats. Then teacher walked in. "Stand," the class representative said, and everyone obeyed. "Bow."

Today would be a long day.

**zzZzz**

When she arrived home that day, her mom immediately said, "You're not running today."

"What?"

"It's too hot. Look at you." She felt her forehead and neck dripping with sweat. It _was_ really hot today. "And that's just from walking home. You're crazy if you think I'm letting you go running in this heat."

She put on her best pout face. "But mom, I always run. What am I supposed to do?"

Her mom thought for a while. "Go swimming."

It would be nice and cool to go swimming. Plus it's better than running since it works all the muscles. "Alright," she said as she headed up to her room to start changing.

"And don't come home too late, like yesterday."

**zzZzz**

With a towel in hand, and a bathing suit underneath her clothes, she made her way to the pool that was only a block away. She reached the gate and pushed it open, entering the pool area. She went to the changing room, took off her shirt, shorts and shoes, and then continued to the swimming area. She put her towel on the fence in front of a table and then entered the pool.

It was really cold at first, but it settled to a perfect temperature after a few minutes of her body adjusting to the temperature. She swam back and forth aimlessly for thirty minutes before a girl with black hair she had never seen before approached her. "Are you a good swimmer?"

She quickly tried to hide under the water. "Kind of," she responded.

"I challenge you to a race then." Another girl, her friend the short haired girl assumed, came up swimming behind her.

"Why do you always challenge random people," the friend asked.

The girl looked between both of them. "Okay."

The black haired girl squealed with delight. "Yes! Over here!" The short haired girl followed her to one end of the pool. "From here to there and back," she pointed to the other end. "Ready?" A nod of approval. "Hey, hey," the black haired girl poked her friend. "You're ref. Tell us when to start."

"Alright. Ready. Set...Go!"

Both girls took off and a big splash emerged from the force of the take off. The young short haired girl could feel the water passing by her as she swam. She felt as if it was for dear life. She could feel her heart pacing as she kicked. With her legs powerful and conditioned from running everyday, and her arms strong from the occasional set of push ups, she was already back at the starting point by the time her challenger reached the opposite side of the pool. She waited for her to get back. "No fair! You cheated!"

"Huh?"

"I want to go home!" The black haired girl looked at her friend. "Let's go."

"Bye," the nameless friend said. As they swam away, she heard them talking. "She didn't cheat. I'm surprised _you_ didn't cheat."

"I should've."

The short haired girl suddenly heard herself shout, "Hey, wait! What's your name? Wanna race again?" She heard a faint reply, but she didn't catch the name. _It starts with a "T"...I think._ Either way, that was fun. She had never gotten so worked up over swimming before. But, then again, she had never been part of a swimming race. She remembered walking past a high school one time and watching some high schoolers racing. She wondered what the big deal was. But now she knew. It was just fun. _I wonder if there's a swimming team at my school._

**So, thought I disappeared? Ah, I was sleeping and working. Haha. Hope you liked it. There will be more. Just review please. Weird title huh? I think my writing style is different in this.  
I forgot my disclaimer...but is it really needed? We all know that I don't own Azumanga. Take care.**


	2. Orange Juice

**Ah, so I got a bit carried away with this chapter. So it's a bit long, I think. I just thought this chapter was really fun to write for some reason. **

**Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Azumanga Daioh or it's characters. You can ask me all you like, but the answer will always remain no.**

There were only two major differences she found between elementary school and junior high school. One was that she now wore a uniform everyday, which she hated. She felt exposed in a skirt. On the first day of her junior high career, she put up a great fight to get out going to school because of the skirt. Not only was it really short, but it was an ugly brown color. The other difference was that her popularity had increased significantly.

As soon as she joined the swimming team of her school, she was instantly recognized as the star of the team. It also helped that she excelled at other sports too. As she walked to her home room class after changing her shoes, a girl, possibly a seventh grader, girl appeared in front of her and timidly handed her a shaking envelop. "Um...it's from my friend..."

"Oh," was the simple reply. She grabbed the envelop that read "Kagura-san" in neat hand writing. "Thank you." She put it in her bag, where she had also put the three letters she found in her shoe locker that morning, and continued on her way to class. At first she found it embarrassing to find the letter because all they ever said was either "I love you" or "You're so cool", but she had gotten used to it over the last two years since she entered the school. She went to class.

She sat at her desk and put her head down. Even though she was very popular she didn't really talk to anyone, though she wasn't antisocial. She suddenly remembered the whole reason she had gone to school early. Getting up, she walked up to a group of three girls who had taken a very big interest in her. "Good morning."

"Ah," the smallest one of the group jumped off the desk she was sitting on. "Kagura-san good morning to you. How was your summer break?"

Another girl, Rin, spoke up. "It's been a whole month since I've seen you. I wanted to go and watch you train, but I went to Hokkaido with my family. You have a nice tan this year."

Kagura looked at her darkened arms. "You think? Thanks. As you can tell, all I really did was train."

The third girl was taller than her friends and was possibly the only American transfer student in the school. They had to admit, she spoke Japanese very well. "You're so committed to your swimming, it's very admirable of you."

Kagura nodded. "Thank you Emi-chan."

The tall girl turned her friends. "You hear that? Emi-_chan_," she said in a bragging manner.

"All it means is that she views you as a child," the smallest girl responded.

"Don't be jealous Kaiya."

The small girl then turned to Kagura. "So why are you here so early in the morning? I was expecting you to get so side tracked with your morning run that you'd forget you had school today. Kind of like last year."

"Oh, I have a favor to ask."

"Well, if it's for you, we'll happily do anything." The other two girls nodded in agreement.

"Well, you see, I was so busy with training this past month that I forgot to do most of my homework. I wondering if I could copy yours?"

"What subjects," Kaiya asked.

"Let's see...history, math, and English."

Rin let out a small laugh. "Kagura, you always pick the most convenient subjects to copy from us. You can borrow my math homework, Emi's English homework and Kaiya's history. Those are our best subjects after all."

"Awesome. You guys are the greatest." Kagura felt a little bad for taking advantage of their fixation on her to copy their homework, but she needed to pass her classes somehow. She figured she could do her homework herself, but she needed to focus on her athletics. Plus, school work was boring.

**zzZzz**

I'm home," she called as she entered the house. She walked into the kitchen, where her mother always was when she arrived home from school.

Her mother drew her attention away from the pot of rice she was attending to and looked at her daughter. "Yu-chan, how was school today?"

She smiled at the nickname given to her by her mother. At home, she was "Yu-chan" but at school she was "Kagura-san." She hardly ever heard her first name at school. "It was alright."

"What did you do?"

Kagura walked over to her mom and leaned on the stove, watching as the rice boiled. "Same thing I always do. Sleep and dream of being somewhere else."

Her mom gently tapped her arm. "You're going to burn yourself if you lean any closer."

"What are you making?"

"Meshi."

"That's it?"

"It's for the kamameshi I'm going to cook. Now what's this about going to sleep in class? You'll never make the grades to make into that high school."

Kagura laughed a little. "I'm just kidding mom. And plus, if my grades aren't good enough, they'll take me for my athletics at least. I've heard they're in desperate need of swimmers."

"Yu-chan," she pointed the spoon in her hand her daughter. "You're a good swimmer yes, but that's not all they look at. They look at grades, and if they're not good enough they don't let you in. It's as simple as that." There was a sudden scream followed by loud crying. "Go be a good sister and take care of your brother while I cook."

"Alright." Kagura began walking out of the kitchen, but stopped. "By the way mom. I'm not a good swimmer, I'm a great swimmer."

Her mom flung some rice at her. "Get out of here."

**zzZzz**

Kagura opened the door to the room where the crying was coming from. There she found her little brother, Uehara, who had been born two years before, standing in his crib. "Hara-kun, you little poop machine, all you do is cry." Uehara quieted as he heard his sister's voice. "You know, you're two and you're still sleeping in a crib and wearing diapers. When I was your age, I had my own bed and was potty trained." Uehara shook the bars on his crib. "But then again, I wasn't trying to escape and pooping every five seconds."

"Out," he said.

Kagura crouched so that they were at eye level. "You want to get out?" He nodded. "Well too bad." His face scrunched up, as if he was about to cry again. "I'm only kidding Hara-kun. You're too serious." She picked him up and placed him on the floor. "Hey, want to watch me play video games?"

"Video games!"

"I take it that's a 'yes'. I might let you play, if promise not to drool over the controller like last time. Is it a deal?" She stuck out her hand toward him, he grabbed it, and she shook. She tried to pull her hand away, but he held on to it. She kneeled down. "You got to get out of the habit of holding my hand."

All he did was wrap his arms around her neck and say "Up!"

"No, no. I'm not carrying you. I was hoping to race you to my room."

Then began his whiney chant. "Up! Up! Up! Up!"

"Alright, alright." She stood and began walking to her room.

**zzZzz**

"Mom, how much longer til the food is ready?"

"About an hour. Why?...Where's Uehara?"

Kagura sat down next to her mother on the couch. "He's asleep. I just wanted to know how long I have to run today."

"Oh, that reminds me. While you're out, will you buy some orange juice. There's none left. And you know Uehara doesn't eat anything unless he has his orange juice."

"Sure thing. I might as well go now. Bye mom." She got up and left the house.

"Bye," her mom yelled as she walked out the door. "And be careful."

**zzZzz**

She ran. Her breathing even, her legs easily carrying her along, and her body at a semi-even temperature. She reached the end of the block, stopped and looked back at the span of ten house behind her. She wondered how it was ever hard for her to reach the end. But that was four years ago, when she wasn't as athletic as she was now. And plus, the block was uphill. She continued on until she reached the grocery store.

She waited outside for a few minutes to allow her body time to cool down because she heard it was bad to go into a cold place right after you exercised. And it was always cold in the store. As she walked inside, she was hit with a gust of cool air. _I knew it._ Wasting no time, she made her way to the juice section.

"It's so high up." The juice her mother had requested was at the top self. "I'll never reach that myself unless I climb the shelves..." Then she looked around to see if anyone was nearby and started climbing. She was at the fourth shelf when she heard someone walking up behind her. She looked over shoulder and was met by a tall, busty girl. She was at eye level with her only because she was suspended in the air by the shelves. _Whoa! She's taller than Emi-chan! And Emi-chan's American. Is she a high school student?_ The girl gave her an awkward look. "Oh sorry. You're just really tall...Uh...could you..." All the girl did was nod and reach over Kagura's head to grab the orange juice. Kagura jumped down and retrieved the orange juice. "Thanks."

The girl walked away. And two other girls appeared as she left. "Was that Sakaki-san," one asked.

"Who cares? Now you owe me juice. I want-"

The taller one, with glasses and brown hair said, "I shouldn't even owe you _anything__**.**_"

The shorter one with black hair responded, "I beat you at Tetris."

"Because you cheated and switched the controls when I wasn't looking."

"Excuses, excuses." The shorter girl saw Kagura standing watching them. She gasped, pointed her finger and yelled, "YOU!" Kagura jumped and frantically looked around to see if she was the one being pointed at.

The glasses wearing girl knocked her friend's finger down and hit her on the head. "Don't go scaring strangers Tomo! And what do you mean 'you'?"

Tomo looked up at her friend. "I don't know. She looks familiar." She looked back at Kagura. "Hey, you go to our school?"

Kagura was flustered. She was sure she had never seen these girls before, but they did look familiar. "...I don't know."

"She probably doesn't. She probably goes to the school down the street, right," the taller girl said. Kagura nodded. "Told you. Sorry to bother you." She looked back at the juices. "Now hurry up and pick one. I don't see why we couldn't buy juice from a vending machine. This is more expensive."

"Exactly, Yomi. I want you to spend as much money possible on me," Tomo said with an evil laugh. Kagura took this as a sign to leave.

**zzZzz**

Kagura sat on a bench outside the store drinking a glass water she got from the vending machine. She had some time before she had to be home had decided to just enjoy the quiet. That is, until it was disturbed by some loud shouting. It was the short haired girl..._Tomo, was it?_...and her friend..._Yomi, I think_. They were talking to the tall girl from before. _Sasaki?...Saki?...I don't remember her name._ To be more accurate, the small girl was the one talking, and she wasn't really talking so much as she was yelling. "Hey, you and me are going to race!"

A thought hit Kagura's head. _Oh...now I know where they're from. The pool. I started swimming because I had fun racing her. I should thank her...but she looks busy._ She checked her watch. _And I got to go home._ Kagura stood up and began her journey home.

**At first Tomo and Yomi didn't make a cameo appearance in this chapter, since they're in the last one. But they worked their way into it. Damn them! Haha. Either way, it did work out for the better good.**


	3. Kagura's Disappointment

**Disclamier: I don't own Azumaga Daioh or it's characters. But I do own this story idea and the original characters in it. And that makes me proud. :D**

Though her grades weren't up to par with what her mother wanted, they had improved. Kagura couldn't help up cringe when she heard her mother sigh. _She's disappointed..._ It was true that she was surprised, and even proud, when she received her grades and saw she had gotten straight D's. But at the thought of handing the report to her mother, she began spazzing. She knew her mother wanted her to do better, but could she help it if she didn't understand most of what she was supposed to learn.

Her mother sat down. "Well, at least you didn't fail any of your classes this time."

"Yeah, but if I don't get better grades, I won't get into that high school..." Kagura put her head down.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. I know I push you, but it's just so you can get a nice career and don't have to marry a salaryman you didn't pick...like I did." Kagura picked her head up in confusion. "Now, I'm not saying I that I don't love your father, he gave me you and your brother. But your grandfather picked him to marry me. Now look at us today. Our marriage didn't last. But if you don't want to go to that high school, I'll understand."

Kagura quickly responded. "No, no. I want to go there." It was half truth, she did want to go, but only because her mother wanted her to go.

"Ok, well this," she pointed at the piece of paper on the table in front of her, "this is an improvement. Continue increasing your grades like this, and you'll be ready when the time comes to apply." Kagura was about to leave the room, when her mother called her back. "I remembered something. Your father called today-"

"Oh, right. I go to house tomorrow."

"Uh, not this time. He's on a business trip for the next two weeks."

"Oh, alright..." Kagura tried to hide her disappointment, but apparently she had failed.

"Aw, I know how much you look forward to this visits with your father. But that's just the life of a salaryman."

"I know. Anyways, I'm going to the arcade," Kagura wanted to change the subject.

"Do you need money?"

"No, I got some saved up."

**zzZzz**

Maybe it was because she was angry, but Kagura found the violent video games to be enjoyable. It had been a little more than a year since her parents got divorced. Since then, she was supposed to visit her father for a week every other month. But, really she had only visited him once. He was always busy. _Well, it's his job. I don't blame him. But still... _She walked by a pinball machine and doubled back. She inserted her money, played her game, and left as soon as she lost. She went to a vending machine and bought herself a soda.

As she was sitting on a bench outside by herself, Kagura realized she was crying. _I wanted to see him this time. And tell him about my grades and my swimming._ She began to think about her brother. _Plus, Hara-kun needs to see him too. It's not fair that he shouldn't know his dad. Parents are so stressful._ She placed her head in her hands. "Kagura-san?"

"Huh?" Kagura looked up and saw one of her three "fans" in front of her. "Oh, hey."

A sharp gasp. "Kagura-san! Are you crying?!" The short Kaiya practically yelled.

Kagura wiped her eyes. "No. I...I have allergies."

"Since when?"

"Since...I was born?

The short girl sat next to Kagura. "You're a bad liar."

"Yeah, well, you're a bad...athlete."

Kaiya laughed and put her arm around Kagura's shoulder, which was promptly removed by the swimmer. "Kagura-san, you're always saying irrelevant things. But what's wrong, really?"

Kagura sighed. "My grades...aren't where they should be. And I haven't seen my dad in a year."

"Do you need a hug?" Kagura quickly shook her head. "Well, is there anything I can do," Kaiya said it with as much sympathy as she felt, or at least she tried.

"Yeah, actually. Don't let me copy your homework anymore." A thought then struck Kagura. "Hey instead, why don't you tutor me? Or will be a burden"

"Nonononono! It won't be a burden at all. I'd be honored to help you. With what subjects?"

"I don't know...all of them?"

"Well...my forte is math, but I could help you with other subjects too."

Kagura felt a smile tug at her lips. "Thanks. You're not so bad Kaiya-san."

"Uh...one thing though. Could you call me 'Kaiya-_chan'_?"

"Huh?"

"Well, you call Emi, Emi-chan. I was wondering if you could call me Kaiya-chan."

"Oh ok. No problem Kaiya-ch-"

"But!" Kaiya stopped Kagura. "Not until you want to."

Kagura was confused but agreed anyway. "Alright."

**zzZzz**

She was proud of herself. Not only was she able to cheer up the object of her affections, but she somehow was able to get the opportunity to spend alone time with her. Sure the other two would be jealous, maybe even mad, but she knew that they were like the other girls at her school who only noticed Kagura-san because she was the captain of the swim team. They had decided to meet every Sunday, since that was the only day they had off. "I can't wait for this weekend," Kaiya told herself.

**zzZzz**

Kagura was almost asleep when her mother walked into her room. She sat down on the bed and stoked her daughters hair. "I know you had a hard day today. But I'm proud of you. Even if you failed all your classes, I'd still be proud as long as you tried. I want you to continue swimming, because it's what you're good at."

There was silence for a few minutes. "Hey mom."

"Oh, Yu-chan. I thought you were sleeping."

Kagura sat up. "I was almost asleep. Hey mom. My grades will get better, I promise. I'm getting tutored from my friend."

"Really. All these years, and you finally decide to get help in your second year of junior high."

"Well yeah. My grades need to be better if I'm going to get into that high school." Kagura let out a toothy grin.

"Get some sleep."

"Don't wake me up this time." Kagura's mother grabbed the blankets and threw them over her daughter.

"Sleep."

**Alright so, there may mistakes in this chapter, because I just skimmed this. I'll re-read and correct any mistakes soon, but right now I'm just too tired. I wanted to get this posted before I went to sleep. (I'm a bit starved for time at the moment)  
Ok so, I really like my OC Kaiya for some reason. (Maybe you can tell) Probably because I based her off of someone I know. Anyways this chapter is just setting up for the rest of the story. I hope you've enjoyed it thus far.**


	4. Tutoring

**Disclaimer: Azumanga Daioh or it's characters aren't mine. But the story idea and original characters are. (Yay me!)**

Sunday had come. Quickly. Kagura was walking to Kaiya's house, a small textbook in her hand. Her mother had offered her a ride, but she had decided that walking would be better. Kagura let her mind wander. _Kaiya-san's been acting a bit weird lately. I wonder if she's alright._ Kagura looked at her watch. It read 2:15. _Damn, I'm late. Let's see...If I stay at Kaiya-san's for an hour, I can make it to the pool before it closes._ Kagura thought it was unfair that the pool closed early on Sundays. Sunday was the only day she had off of school. _The world's against me. I know it._

Kagura's foot caught on something and she tripped. A low whimper was followed as she hit the ground. She rolled over on her back, picked her head up, looked around, and froze in her place. Right in front of her was a giant white dog. "Uh..nice doggie?" If at all possible, Kagura became even more still as the dog began to sniff her pants. _I'm gonna die. I'm too young!_ The dog pulled out an open box of strawberry Pocky from her pocket. "Um...those are mine." The dog looked up at her. "Y-y-you can have them, though. I-I was thinking of-uh-g-giving them to you."

As the dog began to eat, a small voice came up from behind Kagura. "Tadakichi-san! Tadakichi-san!" She tilted her to look behind her and saw a little girl with pig tails standing pointing at the dog. "I'm so sorry. I hope he didn't cause you much trouble."

Kagura shook her head. "Uh..."

"You're not supposed to eat those. Tadakichi-san, apologize." The dog barked and went to the little girl. "I'm sorry," she said as she bowed. And then she left.

"That was weird." Kagura picked herself up, grabbed the box on the floor, and examined what was left. "Aw, they're all full of dog drool. Man." She was about to leave when she realized her textbook was gone. She found it in the street, covered in a tire track. "What the...I didn't hear a car pass by." She picked it up and tried, with no luck, to rub the track out. "Well, that sucks."

**zzZzz**

It was 2:30 when Kagura looked at her watch again. "I was supposed to be here at two...I hope she isn't mad." As nice as Kaiya acted around her, Kagura knew she was famous around the school for her temper. Kagura timidly knocked on the door, which was immediately opened by a worried looking Kaiya. "Hi."

"What happened to you?"

"Huh?"

"You have scratches on you."

"Oh. It's nothing. Just some dog-"

Kaiya gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. "Did a dog attack you?!"

"No, no. I tripped over it, no big deal. Anyways, we should get started. I brought my textbook." Kagura proudly held up the book in her hand.

"What happened to it?"

Kagura looked it over and scratched her head. "Uh...it kind of got run over when I tripped."

Kaiya shook her head. "You need to be more careful." Kaiya disappeared behind the door and made a notion for Kagura to follow her.

"Sorry for the intrusion," Kagura shouted as walked in and took off her shoes.

"My parents aren't here, they're working. Come on to my room." Kaiya's room was in the back of the house, kind of secluded from everyone else that lived there. It was small, but it was a comfortable size. Kaiya sat at the desk that was in one of the corners of the room. "Alright, what book did you bring?"

"Oh my, uh," Kagura glanced at the inside, "my science book."

"I told you we were going to do math today."

"This is the only book I keep at my house." Kagura laughed to herself.

Kaiya sighed. "Lucky for you, I keep all my books here." Kaiya reached into her desk and pulled out a math textbook. "Looks like we're going to have to share."

**zzZzz**

An hour had passed and Kagura didn't seem to notice. A sense of pride arose in her mind at the fact that she was finally understanding one of her worse subjects. As she was working diligently, her face showing her concentration, Kaiya couldn't help but stare. Bothered by the sudden silence, Kagura looked up. "Are you ok?"

"Huh? Oh yeah. I'm fine. I was just thinking about how you can do anything you really try Kagura-san. You're really amazing."

Kagura smiled widely. "Thanks. But you're the one who's amazing. You're a great teacher, Kaiya-sensei." Kaiya was caught off guard by the title and let out a bright blush, which Kagura proceeded to laugh at. "You should see your face!" Kagura dodged a pencil thrown at her. "I'm going back to work."

As Kagura worked again, Kaiya found herself staring at her again. Kaiya found it amazing how Kagura came off as serious and mysterious to a lot of girls at school, but in reality she was playful and a bit, she thought, of a goofball. "Hey, Kagura-san?"

"Yeah?" Kagura didn't look up from her work.

"Do you have anyone you like?"

Kagura put her pencil down and thought about it for a few minutes before responding. "No, not really. I haven't really thought about it. I've been too busy with my athletics, I guess. What about you?"

Kaiya laughed nervously. "Uh...n-no. I'm too busy with school work, I guess." Kaiya couldn't answer the question truthfully with the response she got.

"Oh hey," Kagura said as she looked at her watch. "I have to go. For some reason they close the pool early on Sundays. Thanks for tutoring me. It really helped."

"No problem. So, you coming for tutoring again next week?"

"Of course. Science next time," Kagura asked while pointing at her tire track covered textbook.

"Yeah sure." Kaiya helped Kagura gather her things, and showed her out.

**zzZzz**

Kagura loved swimming. It was the only time in which she could think freely, with no worries about grades, or absent fathers, or anything that bothered her. It cleared her mind. But there was one thing she couldn't get out of her mind. She looked over at a group of boys who held the attention of a group of girls near them. She didn't understand what was so interesting about them. They weren't doing anything, just standing around in their swimsuits, they weren't even in the pool.

Kagura had no interest in boys. She had always figured it was because she went to an all girls school, and that as soon as she entered a co-ed school that would change. Either way, she would stare endlessly at some boys when she went to the arcade and try to find something to gawk at like the other girls. Even though the pool was a great place to stare at boys, she still found nothing.

Not that she had found much interest in girls either, but at least if she stared at them for a while, she noticed how nice their hair looked, something small like that. Kagura put her head under water. _I don't have time for that sort of stuff anyways._ She knew she was only thinking about this because Kaiya had asked her if she liked anyone.

When she poked her head out of the water to breathe, she heard the life guard saying it was closing time. She got out, dried herself, changed, and left for home. It was almost six when she arrived home. "I'm home."

"Oh Yu-chan. Guess what?" Her mother appeared from the hallway to the left of the door.

"What?"

"You're father called and said he came home early from his trip. He felt bad for not seeing you. So he bought you that game you've been wanting. You know the one with the people fighting...I can't remember the name for the life of me-"

"Mortal Kombat?"

"Yes, that one. He's dropping it off tomorrow afternoon. Of course, I'm working late tomorrow, so he said he's going to leave it in the mailbox."

"Oh. Ok."

"I'm so glad he got it for you. Because you deserve it, and I wish I could buy it, but I don't have the money." Kagura just smiled silently and went to her room. "Oh and don't forget to pick up Uehara from day-care tomorrow," her mother said as Kagura closed her door.

"I'll be surprised if it's actually there when I get home tomorrow." Her father had a history of saying he's going to do something, but never did. Or he delayed it for a really long time. Kagura laid down on her bed and thought about how her father was always trying to make up for his absence by buying her lots of games and sports equipment. Even when her parents were still married, she rarely saw her father. But he always had some sort of new item to give her.

Before she new it, she had fallen asleep. She woke up briefly to eat and brush her teeth. She was too tired to do much of anything else, so she settled on taking a shower in the morning. She was grateful that she had done the majority of her homework the day before during class, though she did it in such a hurry most of it was probably wrong. Now she could sleep without worrying about it.

**Ok, so. I finally finished this. Sorry for the delay. Volunteering has got me busy. I really feel for Kagura in this chapter, because I kind of based her father on mine. (Awww...poor me) Anyways...this was another fun chapter for me to write. I hope you people had fun reading this.  
One more thing. This story (at this time) takes place two years prior to the start of Azumanga Daioh, so I figured it's sometime in 1997. I have big mental block as to what games were "cool" then. (That makes me feel old...and I'm only 15) So I settled on Mortal Kombat, because it's always been and always will be cool. :D**


	5. Smudge

**Shame on me for not updating this story since AUGUST! 2008! It's February 2009 for goodness sake. So here's six months of delay for you. Author's note at end.**

Kagura was going insane. Five days ago, she was normal. Today she was a mess. All because of a simple, innocent question asked by Kaiya. _Do you have anyone you like? _It was not that big of a deal. Or at least she thought it wasn't. So why was she making it a big deal?

Then again, it was like Kagura to make a big deal over what most other people would regard as "nothing." It was like Kagura to over-think the simplest of questions. It was like Kagura to get distracted by something so small. Her mother told her if she concentrated this much on her school work, she'd have been a child prodigy.

So she sat at her desk alone. Which was uncommon. For one she rarely arrived at the school early for any reason besides swimming practice or homework copying. And two, she was always attacked by her fan group if she was at the school. They didn't approach her. She figured they got the hint that she didn't feel like talking when she walked right past them without so much as an acknowledgement.

She wasn't mad at them. She just didn't feel like talking. Instead she read. No not a book. Another love letter. It was from a boy. A guy she called "Smudge", because she couldn't read his name, had gotten one of his female friends to give the note to her. A few other guys had done this before. She was popular at other schools also, her swimming abilities were not a secret to anyone in junior high.

As she read the note that detailed his infatuation with her, she became concerned as she realized something. She didn't care for this guys feelings. In fact, she never cared for any of the other guys' feelings either. She always thought it was funny, weird and out-of-place when a boy gave her a love note. She figured it was because she rarely got them. But now she's noticed something else. She always thought it was cute, adorable and "totally awesome" when she received a note from a girl.

"Crap," she muttered to herself. She folded up Smudge's letter and placed it in the pocket of the skirt she was forced to wear every school day. A quick glance at her three, ever loyal fans confirmed they were looking at her. (They pretended not to be by looking away as soon as Kagura shot her head in their direction, horrible actresses they are) Kagura laughed to herself and decided to take a nap before school started. After all she had thirty more minutes of waiting.

**zzZZzz**

When Kagura got home, she went straight to her room. She was pleasantly surprised when she had arrived from school a few days ago and, like her father promised, Mortal Kombat was in the mailbox. An hour of playing and she was already bored.

"Yu-chan! Come eat!"

"Ok mom."

Of course, Kagura didn't automatically go. Instead, she sat in silence for a few minutes before taking Smudge's letter out. Unlike all the other letters she had received before from "love-struck" boys, she didn't feel the need to throw it away. Nor did she want to. In all honesty, it was probably the nicest, most heart-felt letter she had ever received out of all the ones she gotten before. (From boys and girls) But Kagura felt no inclination to find out who this boy was. Nothing to make her want to go out with him. Nothing.

The only thing she felt was sadness. Why couldn't she like this boy? He seemed nice enough and any other girl would've been swooned and won over by the words printed on the paper she held in her hands. So what was stopping her from feeling that way? Before she could find answer, her thoughts were interrupted.

"Yu-chan, hurry up and come eat!"

Kagura just sighed and put the note in her desk. She'd think more about this later.

**Ok, so it has been a while since I updated. And I know this chapter it short. But I didn't want to write a really long chapter and people have forgotten what this story is about. (If you don't remember, I don't blame you. I barely remembered what this story was about when I started writing this chapter. Haha.)  
A few reasons I haven't updated:  
Workload is a bit much. I'm balancing school, band, cooking, cleaning, taking care of my little brother, getting a job and getting my license.  
Lack of motivation. I didn't really feel like writing for a while. But I'm starting to remember why I love it so much.  
Plain old lazyness. I do have some free time. But I choose to spend it either sleeping or playing guitar hero.  
I'm not putting a guarantee on when the next chapter will be up. But I don't intend on waiting six months to update again.**


	6. The Ways of Love

**Oh mah gawd! It's been a FULL YEAR since i've updated. To be honest I kinda forgot about this... But hey, I've been busy. I have found myself a girlfriend and she takes up all my time. Not that I'm complaining. :)**

It was Sunday afternoon again and Kagura had gone to her weekly tutoring session at Kaiya's house. Week two of the tutoring and Kagura was already tired of it, not that she'd let Kaiya know since the girl was putting all her effort into teaching. But a week of little to no sleep was already catching up on poor Kagura as she fell asleep mid explanation of the Periodic Table characteristics.

"Do you understand Kagura-san?" Silence…of course there was the sound of Kaiya's pencil tapping the piece of paper in front of her, other than that silence. "Kagura-sa-" Kaiya noticed that she had fallen asleep. _Am I boring?_ A feeling of insecurity and dread swept over Kaiya as she thought this. She lightly shook Kagura's shoulder. "Kagura-san?"

Kagura slowly woke up. "Huh? Oh Kaiya, did I fall asleep on you?"

"Well..yeah, but-"

"Oh, I'm sorry." Kagura rubbed the back of her neck and sat up. "I shouldn't have laid down."

"We can continue this another time if you'd like."

Kagura shook her head. "No, no it's fine. I'm good."

"Okay." Kaiya began her explanation of gas properties when Kagura fell asleep again. Kaiya was so involved in her explanation she didn't notice until about ten minutes later, when she was done.

"I hope that helps Kagura-san…Kagura-san?" She turned around to see Kagura sitting against her bed, asleep. She sighed and woke Kagura up again. "I'm sorry. I'm a boring teacher right?"

Kagura waited a few minutes until she fully shook the sleepiness away. "Oh, no, you're not at all. It's just I haven't been sleeping much lately."

"What's wrong Kagura-san?"

Kagura struggled for a long time, debating whether or not to tell Kaiya about what had been on her mind for the past week. She didn't know whether she could trust Kaiya. Of course, Kaiya was a devoted member of the "Kagura Fan Club." But she didn't know how far that devotion went. Was Kaiya just a member of the "club" Kagura was so popular, or was she a potential friend of Kagura? Would she quit the "club" as soon as Kagura told her about the problem she had been dealing with? After a few minutes of Kaiya's consistent staring, Kagura decided to tell her.

"Well," she started off slow. "Remember last week, when you asked me if I liked anyone?"

"Yeah…" A few more seconds of struggle passed as Kagura tried to find the right words to say. Kaiya's face lit-up slowly as she came she can up with a assumption of what Kagura was trying to say. "You like someone?"

"No no no," Kagura said quickly. "Well, I don't know…"

Kaiya, now confused, let out a puzzled, "Huh?"

Kagura stared at her feet. "As I said last time, I haven't really thought about it much and…" Kagura looked up to find Kaiya staring intently. "I've started thinking about it lately." When Kaiya didn't respond, Kagura realized Kaiya wanted her to explain more. "It's just been keeping me up."

"Why?"

This was it. This was the moment Kagura had been dreading. She had already delved too deep into the conversation to turn back. Kagura had dug her grave, she had to explain to Kaiya _why_ this bothering her. "Well… I don't know if I like guys…" she said quietly.

"What?" Kaiya didn't hear what she had said.

"I don't know if I like guys…" Kagura said quietly again, but loud enough to be heard. There was a long, awkward silence.

Well it was awkward on Kagura's part at least. Kaiya on the other hand was reveling in the possibilities this opened. If Kagura didn't like boys, then that means she had a chance with Kagura… _No, I can't get my hopes up. She's the most popular girl at school. Once the others find out about this, they might jump all over her. Even if they don't, there's no way she'd go for me. She's athletic and good looking, I'm smart and not that attractive…_

Kaiya was knocked out her thoughts by sight of Kagura gathering her things and getting up. "Hey, hey. Wh-where you going?" Kaiya subconsciously pulled Kagura to her by the arm.

"I figured you wouldn't want to tutor me anymore…" Kagura was surprised by Kaiya's sudden action

"No…" _I'll still be your tutor…I'll tutor you in the ways of love_. Kaiya let out a small giggle. When Kagura directed a strange look at her, she played it off by pretending to clear her throat. "It's ok. Sometimes we come across that questioning stage. There's nothing wrong with it."

"Really?" Kaiya nodded and Kagura beamed. "Um…you're already doing so much for me with the tutoring, but could you help me with something else?"

"Sure."

"Well…" Kagura hesitated. "Uh…well…could you maybe help me figure out if I do or not…"

"Wh-"

"Like can you tell me ways I can tell or not."

Kaiya thought for a few seconds. "Well…do you think about guys?"

"I don't really think about either guys or girls."

"Hmmm…" Kaiya saw an opportunity. "Ok, I heard that if you want to figure out if you like someone you should try to imagine kissing them. If it works that means you like that person. Maybe we can apply the same concept to this. Which do you see yourself kissing: a guy or a girl." Silence. "Which one looks better in your mind?" Kagura shrugged. "Ok, close your eyes." Kagura did just that. "Now imagine: you're in the arms of the person you love, you're cuddling and all cozy together. You lean in slowly, the other person leans in slowly, and you can feel their warmth against you. It seems like time has stopped and you lock lips with this person…"

Kagura imagined the scene. It felt almost real. It was almost as if this person was with her. She could feel her hands running across this persons back, pulling them in closer. She felt her hands running through this person's long, flowing hair… Long, flowing hair! Kagura's eyes flung open. "Oh my God!"

**I'll try to be more faithful to you guys. I'm definately finishing this story. Just give me the time. Happy Valentine's Day.**


	7. The Talk

**Ok, this chapter's done. This was written twice. Only because I accidentally deleted it the first time. I personally think the first version was better, but it's gone forever! Haha. Either way you're stuck with this. Hope you enjoy. Please read and review.**

Kagura jumped up, wide-eyed, mouth agape. She shook her head in disbelief stared at Kaiya. "What was… I… What the hell!" Suddenly, in a way, things started making sense. _Is this why I can't return that boy's feelings? Is this why I've never even been interested in guys? But… I can't be… I can't like girls, there aren't even any girls I'm interested in._

"Are you ok?" Kagura snapped out of her thoughts, remembering Kaiya was in the room. _I can't tell Kaiya, she won't understand. She'll think I'm a freak. I mean, even I'm beginning to think I'm a freak._

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine," Kagura said. She slowly sat back down, put her hand on her head and leaned back against the bed. A yawn escaped her. "I'm tired. I'm gonna go home."

Kaiya began to panic, she didn't want Kagura to leave yet. Her courage had been quietly building up the whole time. She was afraid that if Kagura left, all her courage would leave and never come back. Kaiya was so wrapped up in her panic that she didn't notice Kagura making her way for the door. The door creaked open and Kaiya finally saw Kagura leaving. She sprang up and ran toward the door, slamming it shut when she reached it.

Kagura raised her eyebrow and stepped back. "What?"

"Stay, Kagura-san," Kaiya said quietly. "We'll… talk."

"I don't feel like talking…"

"What it is that's bothering you, you can tell me." Kaiya kept her head down. "Please trust me."

Kagura was taken aback by Kaiya's tone. She sounded like she was begging Kagura to stay. Kagura sighed. "Ok." She walked back to her spot next to the bed. When Kaiya sat next to her, Kagura began apologizing. "Sorry for the way I reacted. I know you said it's fine and everything. I was just freaked out."

"Why?"

"Well, I'm sure it's not that hard to figure out…" Kagura clasped her hands together and began to twiddle her fingers. "That kiss exercise… I imagined kissing… a girl…"

Kaiya felt like she was about to explode. _Oh my God! No way! It's like a fantasy come true! I might have a chance with Kagura-san after all._

"Uh… Kaiya? Kaiya. Hello?" Kagura began wondering what she was thinking. _Damn… She's ignoring me, she thinks I'm weird. I don't blame her._

"Huh? Oh, sorry. Well… This is interesting…" Kaiya let out a nervous laugh. She could tell Kagura was feeling uneasy. "Um, it's ok. I don't… think any differently of you or anything…" _Well, I do in a way. But in a good way._

Kagura smiled. "Thanks. I'm not sure if I like girls or not. There aren't even any I'm interested in."

_Ouch. Ok, maybe I don't have that big of a chance with Kagura-san…_ "Well, maybe we should… Get you a date!"

Kagura burst out laughing. "No, no, no, no. I can't-"

Kaiya fidgeted. "Kagura-san, you're so popular at our school, you'll have no problem getting a date. You're good looking, athletic, nice, and you have your smart moments. You're the perfect date candidate. I mean, I would probably date you…" Kaiya gasped and covered her mouth. _Oh crap!_

Kagura gave a big grin that made Kaiya's heart melt. "Sure you would, you're just trying to make me feel better.

_You're so oblivious, Kagura-san… _Kagura looked at Kaiya, who seemed to be staring at her in disbelief. "What?"

"Nothing… So, it's getting late. You probably want to go practice swimming," Kaiya said, looking at the floor.

"Oh yeah," Kagura looked at her watch. "Yeah, I should go before the pool closes." Kagura chuckled. "We didn't get much studying done. Let's stay focused next time! Bye." Kagura left a dumbfounded Kaiya.

"I practically told her I liked her and she didn't catch on… It's hopeless!"

**Ok, you've read, please review! :)**


	8. Lunch on the Roof

**Wow, two updates in less than two weeks. This chapter was really easy to write. I think I've got my writing mojo back. It was gone for a while. But it might be returning to me :D**

The day wasn't going too well. Kagura arrived to school late, received two failing test grades, forgot her lunch and money at home, and she had angered her mother in the morning, something that would have to deal with when she went home. Regardless, she was still in a good mood. At least she was in a good mood for the time being. There was really only one thing on Kagura's mind: the upcoming athletic festival. She was excited at the chance to test her athletic abilities.

"Ok, as you all know, the athletic festival is coming up," Kagura's home room teacher, Nagi-sensei, said. "Now everyone I want you to try your best and show your utmost respect to the other classes." She cleared her throat. "That being said… WE'RE TOTALLY GOING TO WIN THIS YEAR!" The whole class cheered.

Once student ran up to Kagura. "Yeah! We have our secret weapon right here!"

"Kagura is no secret. All the other classes know they're doomed," another student yelled.

"Try as they might, there's no defeating the almighty Kagura!"

_Man… It's like they worship me…_ Kagura just let out a chuckle. "You know, the other classes have some good athletes too. They have a chance at winning too."

Kagura's remark caused an uproar within the class. "So modest!" "None are as good as you!" "Kagura can take all of them on blindfolded!"

**zzZZzz**

Kagura was relieved when lunch finally came around. She escaped to the roof of the school and sat down. She really didn't like all the attention, but being talented at sports meant she became the most popular person during all athletic events.

She leaned against the fence and relaxed in the smooth atmosphere of the outdoors. But the feeling of relaxation wasn't enough to drive away her hunger. She grabbed her stomach as it began growling. "How could I forget my lunch? I'm so hungry." She reached into her pocket hoping to find some change. "I guess it can't be helped… I left my money at home too."

The young athlete turned her back against the fence and slid to the floor. She closed her eyes, enjoying the silence.

"Kagura-san?" Kagura opened her eyes to find Emi and Rin standing around her.

"Oh, hey guys."

"We were wondering where you went. Good thing we found you. You might've fallen asleep like that one time," Rin said.

"Is it ok if we eat lunch with you," Emi asked.

Kagura sat up straight. "Sure."

Emi and Rin sat down and opened their bento boxes. "You don't have anything to eat Kagura-san," Emi asked as she noticed Kagura was watching them eat.

"Ah," Kagura scratched her head. "No, I was in such a rush this morning trying to get to school on time that I forgot it. I might as well have taken the time to make sure I had it, I was late regardless."

Emi and Rin looked at each other and nodded. "Well you can have some of our lunch," Rin said.

"Oh no, no. It's ok. I'm perfectly fine." Just then Kagura's stomach growled.

"Your stomach says otherwise," Emi laughed.

Rin laughed along. "Yeah, it was telling us, 'Don't listen to her! I'm starving!'"

Kagura blushed. "Well, alright I'll take some. But don't give me too much. It's your lunch."

Kagura gratefully began to eat the food she was given. "So, Kagura-san, how'd you do on the math and literature tests," Rin asked.

"I, uh, failed them both…"

"Really? You looked you happy when you received the tests back that I thought you passed them," Rin said, slurping on a noodle.

"Well, I was happy because I only failed by one point." Emi and Rin were confused. "I usually fail miserably. But my grades have been improving."

"Oh yeah," Emi spoke up. "Isn't Kaiya tutoring you?"

Kagura nodded, chewing on a piece of meat. After swallowing the food in her mouth she said, "I haven't been in a few weeks though." Kagura looked around. "I've just noticed… Where is Kaiya?"

Emi sweatdropped. "You think you'd be more observant Kagura-san…"

"She stayed downstairs," Rin said. "She has to help with preparing for the athletic festival."

"Oh." She hadn't seen much of the girl lately. She had to stop going to the tutoring sessions for a few weeks because she had swimming practice on Sundays. But when the Sunday practices ended, Kaiya seemed to be avoiding her so she wasn't sure if she was still allowed to still go. "Hey, is she mad at me?"

"Not that I know of. Why," Rin responded.

"Just wondering. I thought maybe she was mad at me for having to cancel tutoring sessions for swimming practice."

Emi, who had been busy finishing off the remainder of her lunch, looked up. "Don't worry. She's part of the fan club, it's against the rules to be angry at you for any reason."

**zzZZzz**

"Kagura makes me angry," Kaiya said to herself. She lied about having to help prepare for the athletic festival to get some time to herself. She sat at her desk, staring out the window. "I've been so obvious about my feelings to her. We had that discussion that one time about what her interests are and she never brought it up again!" Kaiya sighed.

Kaiya had been hoping that Kagura would bring up the subject again. She had been waiting for the opportunity to confess her feelings, but it never came up. Then Kagura had to stop the tutoring because of swimming. Then, for some reason, Kaiya began to find it awkward to talk to Kagura. She didn't know why, but talking to Kagura lately was so unbearable that she began to just avoid her. Even looking at her was awkward for Kaiya.

"It's hopeless. I'm hopeless." _I'm getting nowhere! _Kaiya rose from her seat and went to the most likely place Kagura was. The school roof.

**zzZZzz**

As she expected, Kagura was there, along with Rin and Emi. _Aww… I was hoping she'd be alone. Oh well_. She went and sat with them. "Hey, long time, no see Kagura-san," she said as she settled in her spot.

"Kaiya! We were just talking about you," Rin said, patting her on the back.

"Really, now?"

"Yep," Rin smiled. "Kagura-san thinks your angry with her." Kaiya looked at Emi, who nodded that Rin was telling the truth.

"Oh, Kagura-san. I'm not angry with you. Why did you think that?"

Kagura flustered. "Uh, well… It just kind of seemed like you were… avoiding me." Kagura laughed nervously, she really hated being put on the spot. "I was really hoping to have you tutor me again. I failed the last two tests, I'm in desperate need of help."

Kaiya looked down, trying to avoid eye contact with Kagura. "Sorry. I've just been busy. But I'll still tutor you if you want me to…"

"Awesome!" Kagura got up, looking at her watch. "Class is about to start again. We should go back, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Rin said. She held her hand up, signaling Emi to help her up. Emi reluctantly did so. "Thank you. We need to put that American strength to work more often." Emi muttered something no one could understand.

"What did she say," Kagura asked.

"Who knows, she was speaking Americanese," Rin said. "Hey, hey Emi I can speak it too. *I am American. I am suck balls!*" (Side note: Since I'm already typing in "Americanese" I needed a way to convey Rin's attempt at it, since she's "speaking" Japanese with her friends. Hence the "*" from now on if you see the asterisk surrounding someone's speech, it means they're "speaking" English and not Japanese)

"That didn't even make sense, idiot," Emi said.

"I'm not an idiot you're an idiot," Rin responded.

"Yeah, well, at least I have breasts!" This made Rin scream and chase Emi back to the class.

Kagura and Kaiya walked back to the class together. "Hey, Kaiya."

"Yeah?"

"If you really were mad at me, I'm sorry for whatever it was I did."

Kaiya smiled. "It's fine."

"I'm glad you're talking to me again," Kagura said. "I like it when you talk to me." Kagura laughed to herself and walked into the classroom. Kaiya on the other hand was frozen in place. _There may be hope me after all._

**This story is turning two soon. Wow, hard to believe I was only 15 when I've started writing this. I'm 17 now, nearly grown up. I reread the first few chapters and realized I've changed a lot these past two years. I'm sure this story will get better with my age. Wish me luck, because this story's gonna start getting complicated.**


	9. At the Park

**This chapter is long. There's a lot packed into it. Have fun.**

Once again Kagura was on her way to Kaiya's house. She wandered the neighborhoods near her school for about half an hour when she realized something. She had no idea where she was going. She hadn't been to the girls house in a little more than a month and forgot exactly where she lived. She approached a "T" intersection and stopped, trying to decide which way to go.

"Damn. This is so not cool!" She then had an idea. "I know! I'll go to the pool and then see if I remember the way from there." Kaiya lived close to the pool, and the pool was the most visited place by Kagura so she knew her way to practically any destination from it.

After ten minutes of walking, she reached the pool. Looking around, she tried to recall the direction to Kaiya's house. She let out a sigh when she came to the conclusion that she really had no clue where the girl lived. She went and sat at one of the pool benches and stared at the people swimming. Suddenly, she had the urge to swim. "Well, I guess it can't be helped. I can't remember where she lives."

So began her internal conflict which lasted roughly thirty seconds. _If I ditch out on the tutoring, I'll hurt Kaiya's feelings. But I can't remember where in the world she lives, and the pool is tempting. Although, surely I could put more effort into finding her house. But what-if by the time I remember, it's time my daily swim anyway?_ She looked at the pool again. _I'll just explain tomorrow what happened._

Kagura got up from the bench and started towards the changing room. "Kagura-san?" The athlete stopped in her tracks and looked in the direction the voice came from. At the entrance to the pool she saw Emi. _Ah ha,_ she thought._ Emi ought to know where Kaiya lives!_

"Hey, Emi-chan," she said as she jogged towards the tall girl.

"Going for a swim?" Emi blushed after pointing out the obvious. She was also a little confused. Kaiya had just called both her and Rin, boosting about the tutoring session she was going to have with Kagura. Emi had expected Kagura to be at Kaiya's house by now.

Kagura looked back at the swimming area. "Yeah. Actually, I was on the Kaiya's house for another tutoring session. But I forgot where she lives." Kagura laughed nervously and scratched the back of her head. "So I decided to swim instead."

"Is that so…"

"Hey, I was thinking since you're friends with her you might know where she lives, right?" Kagura looked expectantly at Emi, who nodded. "Could you tell me which way to go?"

Emi thought back to the phone conversation.

"_Kagura's coming over to MY house today. And not yours," Kaiya said in a taunting voice._

"_Shut up, Kaiya," Rin said, annoyed by the girl._

"_You're just jealous because she has chosen me over you two." Both Emi and Rin had a mental image of Kaiya sticking her tongue at them._

"_She hasn't chosen you, because none of us have even asked her out," Emi pointed out. "She just wants to make better grades."_

_Kaiya was silently fuming. Finally, after a moment of silence from all three of them, Kaiya spoke up. "When she comes over today, I'm going to ask her out."_

"_What?" Emi and Rin both said at the same time._

"_You heard me."_

"_Bu-but that's totally against the rules!" Rin yelled into the phone, causing Emi and Kaiya to move their phones away from their ears. _

"_Yeah," Emi agreed when she put the phone back. "Rule 4: We are not to ask Kagura out, she is to ask one of us out."_

_Kaiya made a spitting noise. "Those stupid rules. They're not getting us anywhere. I say it's a free for all now. There are no rules when it comes to love. Either way, Kagura should be here now. Bye."_

"Uh… Emi-chan?" Kagura waved her hands in front of Emi's face.

"Huh? What?" The girl in question snapped back to reality.

"Could you tell me how to get to Kaiya's house?"

Emi didn't want tell Kagura where Kaiya lived, especially since the girl was going to ask Kagura out. _If Kaiya wants it to be a free for all, then she's got it. _"Actually, she called me today and told me she had some last minute things to take care of with her parents."

"Ah, really?"

"Yeah, she was kind of stressing because she didn't want to go to her house for no reason. Good thing you forgot where she lived, and good thing I found you to tell you."

Kagura let out a sigh of relief, not realizing she was being lied to. "I can go swimming in peace then."

"Um…" Emi began to blush. "Would you rather go on a walk with me real quick?"

"Huh?" Kagura thought it over. "I guess that would be cool. Plus I haven't gone for a walk in a while. I mean, I've been walking of course, that's how I get places. But it's been a while since I've been on a walk just for the sake of walking.' Kagura smiled. "Ok!"

**zzZZzz **

It was already three o'clock. Kagura was an hour late to her study session with Kaiya. She sat on her bed looking at the books she had prepared, then she looked at her watch again and slumped. "Maybe she's not coming," Kaiya said to herself sadly. "Well, I'll go for a walk in the park then. Hopefully that'll clear my head and help me feel better."

**zzZZzz**

Kagura and Emi had been walking around the park aimlessly for the past half hour when Kagura suggested they sit on a bench underneath a tree. "Wow, who knew a simple walk could be so tiring," Kagura said as she sat down on the bench.

"Yeah" Emi agreed quietly.

Not far from where they were sitting, there were two boys who were about her age playing with a dog. Kagura looked at the boys, trying to see if she could find anything interesting about them. _Still nothing_.She let out a frustrated sigh. "What is it Kagura-san?"

"Oh… Nothing." Kagura crossed her arms and sat back on the bench. "Say, Emi-chan, have you ever dated anyone? You know, back in America?"

Emi was a little taken back by the question. "No…"

"I guess that's reasonable, we're still young. But we're going to be in high school next year…" Ever since Kaiya had asked her if she was interested in anyone, Kagura couldn't help but think about dating and what she wanted. _This is so confusing._ Kagura then focused her attention to the smart, shy, but sometimes bold, American girl next to her. "So, has anyone caught your eye since you've been here?"

Emi was a bit surprised with the question. _Wow, is she oblivious to my crush on her?_ "Uh… Shouldn't it be obvious?" She refused to look Kagura in the eyes, opting instead to look at her lap.

"Whoa! So there is someone, eh? Who is it? Is it someone I know?"

"You could say that…"

Kagura began to grow intrigued. "Someone I know, huh?" She thought of all the guys she knew from school… Then she realized she didn't know any from there. She went to an all girls school. "Well, it can't be someone from our school. It's all girls." When Emi gave her a nervous look, Kagura threw her arms up in defeat. "I don't know. Who is the lucky fella?"

Emi then mumbled something in audible to Kagura. "What was that?" Kagura leaned in closer, Emi talked so quietly at times that she had to strain to hear the girl.

"It's you…"

"You? I don't know anyone named…" Kagura's eyes widened as she realized Emi was referring to her. "Oh…" Kagura's face told the story of her emotions: shock, confusion, disbelief, wonder, understanding, acceptance, and finally interest. "Me, huh?"

"Kagura-san, I've liked you since the first day I arrived. You were instructing the class during P.E. I thought you were so cool."

Kagura let out an embarrassed chuckle. "That was a while ago."

Emi then gripped her pants. "Kagura-san will you… Go out with me?"

Kagura's eyebrows furrowed. She was flattered, in a way, that Emi liked her. But she wasn't sure if she wanted to date anyone at the moment. She was still trying to figure out what she wanted. _Hmmm… Maybe Emi-chan can help me to figure things out. I won't know what I really want unless I try things out. Plus, she is kind of cute. _"Ok."

The American let out a squeal of delight. "Yay!"

"But…" _This might be a bit bold… _"After you do something for me."

"Anything," Emi said eagerly.

Kagura cleared her throat. "Well… You see, I'm not exactly sure of what it is that I want… I don't want to date you without being sure…" Kagura rubbed the back of her neck. "I want you to give me a kiss. It'll help me know for sure."

"Here?" Emi looked around the park, it was practically empty. "Um… Ok…" Emi moved closer to Kagura, and Kagura backed up towards the tree, trying to seclude them. When Emi was close enough to feel Kagura's breath on her lips, both girls blushed. Kagura quickly closed the gap between them.

The kiss was sloppy and awkward. Neither girl had ever kissed anyone before. Their inexperienced lips tried their best to move together, but the timing was a little off. Despite this, the feeling Kagura got from the kiss was like nothing she'd ever felt before. She was in a state of euphoria she didn't even know existed. Suddenly, the world around her seemed to disappear. It was as if she and Emi were the only two people in the world. Emi broke the kiss, much to Kagura's despair. She wanted more. Emi blushed and looked down. "Um… Do you have your answer?"

Kagura nodded. "I'll go out with you, if you promise to give me more of those."

Emi just smiled.

**zzZZzz**

Kaiya stood, watching Kagura and Emi. She saw the kiss. She saw them leave, discreetly holding hands. "So that's how it is, then?" Kaiya turned around and headed home. "Emi, you should've stayed in America," she said to herself.

**Oh, this is getting interesting, no? Told you it was gonna start getting complicated. Man, what have I just gotten myself into? Reviews greatly appreciated.**


	10. In the Tree

**Two years in the making. I'm so proud that my story is two today. That's like 730 days. Enjoy. Though I don't think this chapter is too good.**

"I'm home!" Kagura called out as she entered her house, followed closely by Emi. There was no response and the house was very still. "Mom?" She walked to the kitchen and found a note on the fridge. _Went shopping with some friends. Took Uehara. Heat up some leftovers from last night's dinner. -Mom._ "Well, I guess she's going to be gone awhile." She turned back to Emi who was still standing at the front door. "My mom's not here. Follow me to my room."

Kagura ran up the stairs. When she reached the top she noticed Emi calmly walking. "It's ok to run you know. I always run up the stairs," she said, trying to encourage the other girl to move at a faster pace. Emi took the hint, and walked faster.

The girls reached Kagura's room, which was right in front of the staircase. Emi let out a surprised look. Kagura's room wasn't too big or too small, and was surprisingly well kept. The only mess to be found was a clutter of videogame cases next to the tv. "Do you like to clean Kagura-san?"

"Huh?" Kagura looked around her room. "Uh, no. My mom cleans my room. She's a neat freak sometimes." Kagura was about to turn around and turn on the tv, when she noticed something. "Hey, Emi-chan. Americans wear shoes in the house, right?"

"Sometimes, why?" Emi then looked down and saw she was still wearing her shoes. "Ah! I'm sorry. It's a habit that's hard to break." She quickly took her shoes off while Kagura stood laughing.

"It's ok. As long as you didn't track mud, I'm sure we'll live. It's not the end of the world." Kagura looked over at her videogame collection. "Hey, wanna play something? I have lots of games."

"Sure. I'm not too good, though. You'll probably beat me, Kagura-san."

"Kagura-san, huh? Don't call me that," Kagura said, trying to decide which game to play. "Call me by my first name."

There was a moment of silence before Emi spoke up. "Kagura isn't your first name?"

Kagura sweat dropped. "You don't know my first name?"

"Well, I know your other name is Yuso. But that's your last name, right?" Kagura shook her head "no." "But you were introduced as Kagura Yuso… Oh, wait! I forgot, the last name goes first… That's so confusing. Why not just-" Before Emi could finish her thought, she was tackled to the ground Kagura.

"You're so silly, Emi-chan." Kagura gave her new girlfriend a kiss before returning to her task of deciding which game to play.

**zzZZzz **

Kaiya was watching the two from a tree outside Kagura's window. (Creepy, eh?) Due to the oncoming nightfall, there wasn't enough light for Kaiya to be seen. "How dare that American come in and swoop Kagura-san away from me!"

"Whoa!" Kaiya heard from below her. "Did that tree just talk?" Kaiya looked down to find Rin inspecting the same tree she just so happened to be on top of.

_Crap! If Rin finds me up here, I'll be in a pretty big hole._ She cleared her throat. "Be gone, human," she said in a threatening voice.

Rin jumped back. "Possessed tree," she cried as she back away quickly.

"Possessed tree?" A girl, around the same age and height as Rin, with black hair came up behind her. "That's cool!" She eyed the scared looking girl next to her. "IHi, the name's Tomo! And I'm gonna exercise this possessed, demon tree!"

"No you're not," said another girl, slightly taller, with brown hair and glasses. "Let's go, it's getting late. My mom will be mad if I'm not home." She dragged Tomo away from the scene.

"No fair, Yomi! I never get to see any action! You're leaving all the fun to that chick." Tomo fought as hard as she could to break away from Yomi's grip. She was able to get free for a few seconds. She grabbed a rock and, as Yomi began dragging her again, threw the rock at the tree. "Good luck with the possessed tree, kid!" Tomo held a thumbs up.

Rin stared in confusion at the two walking away. When she heard a thud and a loud cry, Rin looked back at the tree. "Hey, wait a minute!" She climbed the tree, reached up at branch and found herself face-to-face with Kaiya.

Kaiya, surprised to be found, jumped off the tree, brining Rin down with her. Rin fell heavily ontop of Kaiya's back. "Rin, get off me," Kaiya grunted.

The addressed girl thought for a moment. "No."

"Why not!" Kaiya began flailing her arms and legs.

"Not until you tell me what the hell you were doing up there."

_I can't tell her the truth. I'll never hear the end of it._ "I was… Bird watching…"

Rin raised an eyebrow. "Bird watching? This late?"

"Yes."

Rin looked up to see if she could spot some birds. "I don't see any birds."

"Well… You scared them away." Just as Rin was about to respond, the front door to Kagura's house began to open. Kaiya pushed Rin off of her with all her might and hid behind the tree. She ran back when she realized Rin was still out in the open. She grabbed the baffled girl, and pulled her behind the tree.

"What the hell-" Rin was cut short by Kaiya covering her mouth.

Emi walked out the front door, followed by Kagura. "Sorry we couldn't play longer, my mama-san doesn't like me out so late," Emi said, as she and Kagura walked past the tree.

"It's alright. My mom is like that sometimes too."

When Rin was sure that Emi and Kagura were out of earshot, she bit down on Kaiya's hand. Kaiya yelped and drew her hand back. "What was that for!"

"You were spying on Kagura?"

"No, I was bird watching."

"So you just happened to be bird watching in the tree right next to Kagura's house with no birds around?"

"Yes."

Rin shook her head. "I don't believe you."

"You should."

"Why?"

"Because it's true." Kaiya could tell Rin was getting frustrated. She knew that next to Kagura, Rin was one of the strongest girls in the school. While Kaiya was famous for her temper, Rin was famous for her strength. No doubt Rin could easily hurt Kaiya pretty bad. A frustrated Rin was a dangerous Rin. "Ok. I was observing Kagura-san. Not spying as you so put it."

"How do you even know where she lives? I didn't even know this was her house."

"I followed her…"

"Why? We're a fan club, not a stalking club!" Rin shook her head in disbelief. "And what was Emi-chan doing with her?"

"Well if you would let me explain the situation-"

"Explain!"

"I'm getting to it." Kaiya sighed. "Well you see, Kagura didn't show up for the tutoring session today." Rin let out a laugh, and Kaiya rolled her eyes at the girl. "Anyway, I decided to go for a walk in the park because I had nothing else to do. And what do I find? None other than our 'sweet, little Emi-chan' giving my… I mean, our Kagura-san a kiss."

"Huh?" Rin gave Kaiya a shocked look.

"So I followed them back her to keep on an eye on them and make sure things didn't progress too far."

"So… What happened? Up there in the house, I mean."

"Well, I was only able to see Kagura give Emi one kiss."

"Oh." Rin sat silent, seemingly thinking the situation over. "Alright then, good for Emi-chan?"

"What?"

"Good for Emi-chan. She gets Kagura-san."

"You're just going to accept defeat like that?"

Rin got up from behind the tree and walked back to the sidewalk. "Well, think of it this way. Emi-chan isn't going to be here for long. She's only here as a foreign exchange student, not permanently. So when she goes back to America, and Kagura-san is sad, I'll swoop in and make her feel better. Thus, winning her love! This works in my favor."

"Eh? No, I'm going to be the one who wins her love!"

"Yeah, right. It shall be me!"

"How about we decide at the sports festival? A race to see who it'll be."

Rin hit Kaiya on the head. "We're on the same team, idiot!"

"Well, we'll have our own race, apart from the sports festival. Just us two."

Rin thought it over. "You're on."

**So the plot thickens, eh? Probably not. Haha. Oh and a note on Emi using the term "mama-san." My friend went to Japan for a foreign exchange program and he referred to the lady he stayed with as his "mama-san." Thought I'd use it for this. Yay for my story being two! Whoohoo! Please continue to read this story, even if you don't review, it's still appreciated. Though I do like reviews :)**


	11. You're Out

**Ok, so it's been a REALLY LONG TIME! Sorry... If you can find it in your heart to forgive me I come bearing a new chapter. Enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Azumanga Daoih or any of it's characters.**

The day had arrived. The sports festival. All the classes were gathered outside in anticipation. They were all excited and hopeful of their victory and…

"Oh, who are we kidding," a boy from one of the classes exclaimed. "We're all going to lose! What's the point in even trying when they have HER!" He pointed to a stretching Kagura who looked up innocently as the crowd of students yelled in agreement.

Kagura stood up straight, scratched the back of her head and let out a chuckle. "Hey now, you all got a shot. I'm only one person and you're an mob of people."

They whole crowd spoke in unison, "But you always crush all of us in every event."

The crowd was now disorientated, students shouting, some even crying at the hopelessness they felt. The teachers where trying their best to calm them down. Kagura slowly slipped out of the craziness that began.

"Whoa, who knew it meant so much to them," Kagura sighed when she was finally free. She needed peace and quiet to mentally prepare herself for the events. She went back into the school. Fully isolated, she felt like she could finally perform her little "ritual." It was a fairly simple routine, a few stretches to the left leg, then a few to the right leg, left arm, right arm, then a BAM… Wait, what? Kagura suddenly stopped when she heard a crash. "What in the world was that noise?"

Kagura walked over to where she heard the noise come from: the double doors she had came in through. She peered through one of the windows and looked outside. She didn't see anyone or anything. She shrugged off the noise as belonging to the crowd outside going to wild.

She was about to turn around when a figure popped into the window. "Oh my god!" Kagura jumped back, tripped over herself, and landed on her back. The figure, covered in black, opened the door and began making it's way toward Kagura. "Hey, hey. Who the hell are you? What do you want?" Kagura was crawling backwards.

The figure let out a muffled "Kagura," and reached for Kagura.

"H-how do you know my n-n-name," Kagura crawled until she reached a wall. She was trapped between a wall and… that thing. She looked to her right and left. _Ok, I gotta make a run for it._ The figure reached Kagura before she could get the chance to get up. Kagura let out a loud yell. "I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!" The figure began to laugh. "Oh, so you're getting a kick out of this."

"Kagura, it's me."

"Huh," Kagura gave a confused look. The figure pulled off it's mask to reveal… Emi. Kagura's jaw dropped. "What the hell Emi-chan! You scared the crap out of me!"

"I was trying out my costume for Halloween," Emi chuckled. "Unfortunately, I can't see much out of it and ran into the door when I came to show you."

Kagura sweat dropped. "It's a bit early to be planning for Halloween…"

"It's already October, Kagura-san."

Kagura didn't fully understand her American girlfriend. She shook her head. "Anyway, today's the sport's festival why aren't you dressed properly for it?"

"I am…" Emi began to blush. "It's just…"

"What?"

"Well… The zipper's…"

"Oh," Kagura said. Then she looked back at Emi with wide eyes when she realized what she was saying. "OH! You're stuck!" Kagura jumped up, bringing Emi up with her. "Ok, now." She turned Emi around and reached up to the zipper. Emi was so tall compared to Kagura that she had to stand on her tiptoes to reach it. She yanked a few times, but the zipper didn't even budge. "Yep, it's stuck."

"That's all you have to say," Emi exclaimed,

"No problem, I'm just too short to get it undone properly. We need someone taller… Ah, I know! Rin-san! She's almost your height!"

"NO!" Emi yelled.

"Huh," Kagura was taken aback by the outburst. "Why not?"

"Well… uh… She's busy, and she doesn't like to be bothered when she's busy."

"Oh… Then how…"

"How about this," Emi kneeled. "There you can reach the zipper now."

"Well, how about that!" Kagura grabbed hold of the zipper and began to working to free it. "You're so smart Emi-chan!" Emi blushed, she felt guilty for not telling Kagura the real reason why she didn't want to call Rin over. But she couldn't tell Kagura that Rin and Kaiya had "unfriended" her since they began dating.

**zzZZzz (flash back time!)**

"So, Emi-_chan_," Rin began. The day after she asked Kagura out, Kaiya and Rin cornered Emi in an abandoned room. "Had an eventful day yesterday?"

"No, not really…" Emi tried looking down to avoid their gaze, but since she was taller than them she had to avert her gaze to the left.

"Don't lie to us Emi, "Kaiya said. "We-"

"We saw you with Kagura-san yesterday," Rin interrupted.

"Hey, don't interrupt me Rin!" Kaiya yelled.

"I thought we were taking turns talking," Rin defended herself.

"I wasn't done!" Kaiya hit Rin on the shoulder.

"Dammit, Kaiya that hurt! If you're so pissy about it then just give me a signal when you're done talking, damn!"

Kaiya shook her head. "Anyway, we saw you with Kagura-san yesterday. At her house, what were you two doing?"

"Nothing…"

There was a long pause as Emi began to prepare herself for the worst, an outburst, a hit, anything. But nothing came. Emi looked back at Rin and Kaiya. Rin was staring intently at her and Kaiya had her arms crossed and was tapped her foot in annoyance. Kaiya looked over at Rin and sighed angrily. "SAY SOMETHING!"

"What?" Rin jumped.

"It's your turn."

"I thought you were going to signal me," Rin responded.

"I did!"

"No, you didn't."

"The silence was the signal!"

"WHAT! You could give me a more obvious signal than that!" Rin defended herself. Emi had been watching this in disbelief, she found it hard to believe they were best friends. They always fought, she couldn't think of any friends that fought that as much as they did (She obviously doesn't know Tomo and Yomi).

"ANYWAY! You forfeit your turn," Kaiya turned back to Emi as Rin looked at Kaiya in disbelief and let out an angry "hey!"

"Emi, let me cut to the chase. I saw you and Kagura kissing at the park. You two should at least have the decency to do that in private," Kaiya said as Emi blushed. "Now, what were you doing at Kagura's house?"

Emi was quiet for a moment. "Nothing, we played video games and that's all. Really."

"Are you two dating now?" Rin asked. Emi nodded slowly. "Ok…" Rin sighed.

"You're out of the club!" Kaiya said.

"What," both Emi and Rin asked at the same time.

"You heard me. Rin and I started the club and we kick out anyone we choose. Right Rin?"

"Well, yeah but-"

"But what?" Kaiya said with her eyebrow raised.

"We shouldn't kick her out because she's dating Kagura now, I mean if anything she should be head of the club for that."

Kaiya grabbed Rin. "Excuse us for a moment Emi, we'll be right back." Kaiya dragged Rin to the opposite end of the room. "What the hell, why are you sticking up for her!"

"I'm not, I just don't see why we need to kick her out of the club."

"Because she's in the way! She's dating the object of our affections! That's why!" Kaiya began to become hysterical.

"Yeah, but it's only temporary. She moves at the end of the year, remember?"

"Who's to say that Kagura won't fall head-over-heels in love her and continue with a long distance thing?" Kaiya had no choice but to mention the worst-case-scenario.

"Well…"

"And think of it this way, if we kick Emi out we don't have to listen to her talk about their dates or anything. It would be unbearable, don't you think? Plus, we can devise a plan to get Kagura on our own." Kaiya waited a few seconds before continuing. "Besides, Emi doesn't need us anymore, she's already got the girl she wants. Let's just let her enjoy that for now." Kaiya didn't believe that last part, she just felt it needed to be added to get Rin to agree.

Rin thought it over. "Well… I guess it is for the best." Kaiya did a mental pat on the back.

"See?" Kaiya walked back to Emi. "Well, goodbye. You're out. No ifs, ands, or buts."

Rin came slowly up as Kaiya walked out of the room. "Sorry…" was all she could say as she looked to the ground and followed Kaiya out the room, leaving Emi alone. She just lost the two best friends she had in Japan over a girl.

**I really wanted this chapter to be longer, and I had more planned. But it's late and I got work in a few hours, so I must retreat to bed. The next chapter will be up within a week (I hope). If not, expect it in two weeks at the latest. Remember to review.**


	12. Revelations

**Finally, an update for this story! My sincerest apologies. Hopefully this story was not forgotten. Enjoy!  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Azumanga Daioh. But the original characters and the plot are mine. All mine!  
**

The field just outside of the school was loud with students cheering their classmates on. The sport's festival was in full swing and, as expected, Kagura's class was ahead by a landslide. Led by Kagura, Kaiya and her partner had just finished first in the three-legged race. Wasting no time, Kaiya quickly undid the tie around their ankles and quickly walked away from the excited Kagura. As much as Kaiya liked the girl, was still a bit sore over the fact that Kagura had skimped out on their tutoring session to go on a date with Emi instead.

Of course, Kagura wasn't aware of this. She wasn't even aware Kaiya was mad at her in the slightest until just then. A whole week went by and Kagura didn't notice, which just fueled Kaiya's anger. Kagura considered going after the girl when Emi showed up to congratulate her. "Good job Yuso!"

"Huh," Kagura was snapped out of her thoughts. "Oh, Emi-chan, thank you."

"What's wrong," Emi asked as held out her hand to help Kagura off of the floor.

Kagura accepted the help and stood up. "Kaiya seems angry, which is weird. We're winning, why is she angry?"

Emi stumbled for an explanation. "Ah… Well, she's just in one of those moods you know…" Emi leaned over and whispered into her ear. "If you ask me, it's 'girl problems'."

The young swimmer let out a convinced "oh" and nodded. "Well, we should do something nice for her then. Chocolate helps with that, right?" Emi tried to come up with a way to talk Kagura out of it as Rin passed by. Rin was stopped by Kagura. "Hey, hey, Rin. What kind of chocolate does Kaiya like?"

"Chocolate? Hershey bar. Why?" Rin looked at Emi and they made nervous, awkward glances at each other. Kagura wasn't aware of the tension caused by the two taller girls being in such close proximity to each other and continued on as if nothing was happening.

"I was just wondering. Kaiya doesn't seem to be in the best of moods and I wanted to get her something cheer her up."

Rin nodded. "That'll do it." Kagura smiled and walked away to go to the nearest vending machine. The two girls were left with an awkward silence, as neither knew what to do at that point. They were saved by an announcement for the obstacle came on the speakers. "Uh… Well, my event is coming up… See you around."

Left alone, Emi didn't know what to do. She wanted to go stop Kagura from purchasing the chocolate bar for Kaiya, but she didn't want to cause suspicion. _But really, would she get suspicious. As wonderful as the girl is… She's a bit oblivious to things…_

Emi made her way to vending machine that Kagura was at. The athlete had just finished purchasing the chocolate and was smiling proudly at the "gift". She held two chocolate bars in her hand. "I didn't know whether she liked the plain or the one with nuts. Which do you like?"

"I like them both," Emi responded.

"Ok then. I'll let her choose and we can share the left over one." The gunshot signaling for the obstacle course to start went off. "Oh, I should get these to my desk quickly, the relay race is coming up after this and I'm the anchor."

Once again, Emi was left alone not knowing what to do. A part of her wanted to sneak her way to the classroom and hide the chocolate bars so Kagura wouldn't have to talk to Kaiya. But she'd hate to think the girl spent her money for nothing. _This relationship is proving to be a bit of a hassle…_

Deciding she couldn't keep Kagura from talking to Kaiya at all, she went over to the obstacle course and started cheering for Rin. The competing girl came in second, which wasn't bad. Placing second meant that her class only needed to make it into the top three of the relay race to win the sport's festival. The class was ecstatic, and Kagura was able to get back to the field just in time to cheer with her classmates.

When the class was done cheering, and beginning to prepare for the relay, Kaiya approached Rin. "Good job, practically sealing our victory."

Rin raised her hands in the air. "I know! I'm practically awesome. There should be fan clubs for me, you know. I am not appreciated enough!" Rin chuckled to herself.

"Yeah… But you're no Kagura. Speaking of which, remember what's happening after the relay race."

The taller Rin put her hands on Kaiya's shoulders. "You know, I already won that race. Regardless, even if you win it won't be fair. Seeing as I am competing in the relay and you're not. All my energy will be spent on that."

Kaiya shrugged Rin's hands off of her. "That's why I am competing the relay!"

"What!"

"Misaki got sent to the nurse for dehydration and I am her replacement. If I compete, this makes the final race between us even."

Other than her short bouts of anger which caused her to chase people around at impressive speeds, Kaiya wasn't exactly known for her athleticism. Not that she was entirely bad at athletics, but she was definitely below average. "Are you crazy!? Is there no one else?"

"What are you talking about? We're going to win because of me!"

"Kaiya, this could be a relay race between kindergarteners and you'd still lose," Rin said frantically.

Kaiya crossed her arms. "I am not that bad!"

"Yes, you are. Why do you think I agreed to race you!?"

There was a huff as Kaiya turned around. "Well then, good day to you ma'am!"

Rin watched Kaiya walked away and sighed. "There's no way we're going to get in the top three this way…"

**zzZZzz**

Much to the surprise of Rin, and everyone else expecting to have an advantage over Kagura's class due to Kaiya competing, Kagura's class placed in the top three of the relay race. Not only that, they came in first. While Kaiya had given up some of the lead established by Rin, Kagura was able to take it back with ease. Before Emi, Rin, or Kaiya had the chance to congratulate her, Kagura was taken by the rest of the class and treated to juice and candy.

Left alone, Kaiya thought then would be a good time to have her race with Rin. "You underestimated me Rin, I told you we would be fine." Kaiya picked up a stick and drew a line. "This is the finish line. We will run from that tree to here. And whoever wins gets Kagura."

Emi, not standing with the two girls, but still in earshot, heard this and became angry. "What!?" She stormed over.

"Stay out of this, Emi," Kaiya shouted.

Rin looked at Emi and tried to motion for the girl to leave. She mouthed "before she gets too angry" and began to "choke" the air as a representation of what could happen to Emi if she didn't leave.

Kaiya shot and angry glance at Rin and punched her arm. "Ow," Rin exclaimed and rubbed her arm.

"Go away Emi! This has nothing to do with you!"

Emi's face flushed with anger. "This has everything to do with me. You two are trying to race to 'get Kagura' when you know damn well that I'm with her!"

Emi walked over to Kaiya as Rin slowly began backing up from the scene entirely. "You know… I've reconsidered. I don't really want to do this… This seems like too much trouble…" Both Emi and Kaiya looked at Rin with ferocity. "I-I mean, really guys. We were friends and now look at us, why can't we just hang out like before..."

"Because of HER," Kaiya poked Emi in the chest.

"Oh really, I'm the problem? What about you!?"

"What about me!? Rin and I were doing just fine until you showed up. Then you come in and make everything complicated for us! I've been upset this whole week. This whole week! And did Kagura notice!? No, because she was too busy canoodling with you! Why!? Because you tricked her into going on a date with you and on the day you know knew she had tutoring with me!"

"Oh, wow!" Emi got closer to Kaiya, towering over her. "She was lost on the way to your house anyway. She was planning on not going. Plus, you were the one who said 'there are no rules in love'. What was I gonna do? Let Kagura go over to your place so you could sweep her up."

Rin just watched as the two girls went at each other's throats. She didn't know what to do. She wanted to interject, but realized she had nothing to say. She hadn't realized the problem rooted itself so deeply.

"For your information, I wasn't going to do it," Kaiya said. "I was just saying all of that piss you two off. I know Rin will forgive me for anything, you're leaving in a few months so it's not like our friendship matters, and Kagura is too dumb to realize my feelings for her anyway!"

Emi and Rin gasped at what Kaiya said and there was a thud. All three girls look towards were the sound came from. There stood Kagura, soda in one hand and chocolate bars in the other. In front of her was a third chocolate bar, which she had dropped on the floor. She had been watching the whole argument.

"Kagura… I didn't mean… I meant oblivious…" Kaiya trailed off.

The athlete picked up the chocolate bar from the floor. She handed one of the bars to Kaiya. "I noticed you were upset so I got this for you." She then handed the other two to Emi and Rin. "There, so you're not left out. I, uh, have to go now. I'm tired. Bye." Kagura walked away.

Rin looked over at Kaiya. "I've known you since grade school, but this is the first time I've realized how cruel you really are. The whole time, I came up with excuse after excuse for you, but in reality you're just a cruel person," she said. "I'm sorry for everything Emi."

"It's ok, Rin." Emi and Rin walked away, leaving Kaiya completely alone.

**As always, thanks for reading and don't forget to review. Also let me know of any mistakes and I will fix them ASAP! Thanks again!**


	13. Table Talks

**Wow, wow, wow. I'm really on a roll. Enjoy this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Azumanga Daioh. I repeat: I do not own Azumanga Daioh.**

The Kagura household was unusually quiet. The three family members were gathered around the dinner table about to eat dinner and Kagura's mother, Reina, was a bit worried about the stillness of her children. Well, she wasn't too concerned about her son; he had just woken up from a nap so he was still snapping out of the drowsiness. She was mostly concerned about her daughter, who, normally by this point, would have said something about the sport's festival.

She raised her chopsticks, as if to signal something. Her children followed suit. In perfect synchrony the family said, "Itadakimasu." By this time Uehara had fully woken up and was loudly attacking his plate of food. Satisfied that one of children had returned to normal, Reina focused her attention on the little jock next to her. "How was your day," she asked.

Kagura shrugged her shoulders while slowly lifting pieces of food her mouth. "It was good," was the response.

"You had the sports festival today? How did that do?"

At the mention of the festival, Kagura became a little more animated. "Oh, it was good. We came in first!"

Reina smiled. "That's great. I take it you had a big part in that victory."

"Well, I don't mean to boast but… Yeah!" Kagura chuckled to herself.

The room fell silent again, save for the aggressive sounds as Uehara ate his food as if it would be his last meal on earth. Reina quickly tried to think of a subject to talk about as she didn't like her daughter being so silent. "You did the relay this year, right?"

"Yeah. I was the anchor," Kagura said proudly.

"Wow. Impressive. My little Yu-chan is one cool chick." Reina said, in an effort to make her daughter laugh.

"Well… I guess a little." Kagura smiled. "Rin was the starter in the race and she gave a good lead. She'd probably give me a run for my money in a race between us. And this other girl Kaede was in the race, she's a good runner too. But for some reason, they put Kaiya in and she gave up most of our lead." Kagura laughed as she remembered the race. "But of course, I got it back and won. So the class treated me to drinks and candy afterwards."

"Kaiya? Isn't she the one tutoring you," Reina absent-mindedly asked as she brought some food to her mouth. "Oh my, I'm such a good cook," she added as she waited for Kagura's response.

Due to her distraction, Kagura's mother didn't notice as the young girl's smile faded. Opting to stare at her plate and play with food some more instead of looking her mother face-to-face Kagura let out a little a quiet, "Yeah, she's the one."

"Well, that's nice of her. Are you paying her?" Kagura shook her head no. "Such a nice girl. I'm glad you're making friends. I know you're not anti-social, you've just never had any good friends and I'm glad that's finally changing."

Feeling like she might cry if she said anything, Kagura remained silent. She began to quickly eat as an excuse to not speak. Lucky for Kagura, her little brother was making enough of a distraction for her mother to not notice that the girl had stopped talking. _'…Kagura's too dumb…"_ She couldn't get it out of her head. _Maybe I am just a moron._ "Mom," Kagura started, effectively gaining her mother's attention. "Mom… Am I stupid?"

Reina was taken aback by the question. She stared at her daughter a moment, fully taking in the miserable sight before her. "Is that what's bothering you? You think you're stupid?" The mother took her daughter's hands in her. "Darling, you are not stupid." Kagura just looked down. Realizing she had not convinced her daughter otherwise she sighed. "Did I ever tell you how I met your father?"

Kagura immediately looked up. "No." Kagura was always interested to learn more about her father but was always too afraid to ask.

"He was such a goof," Reina smiled as she began to remember that first encounter. "We went to the same high school, but didn't actually meet until the last year. Entrance exams were coming up and I was walking down the hallway after school to go to a prep session. That's when I heard yelling. I quickly realized it was a teacher yelling at a student. I decided to go have a listen. Your father's homeroom teacher was yelling at him for failing all of his classes. You see, the entirety of high school your father barely made passing grades and during the last semester he stopped trying altogether. He walked out of the office, smiling as if nothing had happened and spotted me next to the door. I'll never forget the first words he said me. 'Wow, you're such a nosy girl.'"

Both mother and daughter laughed at this. As did Uehara, who began chanting, "Nosy. Nosy. Nosy."

Still chuckling, Reina continued. "I guess I was being a bit nosy. Either way, he found me at lunch the next day and began talking to me. Your father was very bold. The day of entrance exams came and to the surprise of everyone he passed with flying colors. He found me later that day and showed me his results. He told me, 'Thank you. If not for you I would not have have passed. You were my drive to succeed.' I was so moved that we began dating, and I guess you know what that led to." Reina put her hand to daughter's chin. "So my dear Kagura, you are not stupid. You just need to find something that drives you. Once you find that, you'll be unstoppable."

Kagura smiled widely. Her mother always knew what to say. She hugged her mother tightly. "Thanks mom. I love you."

"I love you too, darling." Reina gave her daughter a kiss on the head. She then looked over at her daughter's plate. "Yu-chan. Eat you food. You have the world's best cook as a mother and you don't eat your food!?"

The young athlete let go of her mother, picked her chopsticks back up and began to happily eat. Reina watched with a smile as her daughter's mood returned to normal.

**zzZZzz**

Kagura woke up the next day with determination. She pulled out her latest report card to see which subjects she was struggling in. Although, in reality, she didn't need the report to tell her. "Just as I feared… I knew it was all of them…" Except for physical education, which she had an A in, she had D's in all of the other subjects. "Well, at least I'm not failing… But then again Kaiya was tutoring me…" She grunted as she remember what Kaiya said about her. "I bet she was just viewing me as some charity case." She crumpled up her report card and threw it in the trash can. "Ok, time to start fresh!"

She grabbed the nearest textbook, which was her science book, and opened it to the chapter her class was on. She began reading, trying to make sense of anything on the paper. "Well… I don't get most of it… Ah, I know!" She opened her desk and found a brand new package of index cards, and a piece of paper. "I'll make a plan." She began outline a study routine. The routine involved reading the text book for thirty minutes a day, followed by thirty minutes of looking at flashcards of the words she didn't know. She began to copy words in the chapter that didn't make sense, using up half of her index cards.

She looked at the clock on her desk. "Eh!?" She had been working on this for about two hours. She didn't even realize the time was passing by so quickly. She then looked at the other untouched textbooks, all seven of them. "At this rate, I'll be working for fourteen hours." She closed her science textbook, she hunched over in defeat. "There's no use…"

The young athlete went and changed out of her pajamas. Feeling no use in studying, she decided she'd go to the arcade instead. She was about to walk out of her room, when she heard her mother talking to her little brother. "Uehara! You didn't wet the bed," was the happy exclaim.

"I'm a big boy!"

"Yes. I'm so proud. You and your sister are both the best children."

Kagura leaned against her door and closed her eyes as tears began to form. "I can't let mom down." She walked back over to desk. Picking up her math textbook, she sat down and continued on her studies.

While studying and reading the textbooks, Kagura realized there was a lot of material from some classes she quickly picked up on. She had already known a lot about health from her training, she was good at music and realized music had math in it so she applied those lessons to her math formulas, and she noticed that the majority of history is predictable. She didn't spend the fourteen hours she had expected to spend on her studies. Instead, five hours later she felt like she was done for the day.

Feeling accomplished, she got up from her desk and headed out of her bedroom. She went to the kitchen to get a quick snack. She then went over to the living room with an apple in hand and turned the TV on. Reina walked into the living room, finding her daughter sitting on the couch. "I was beginning to worry. You've been in your room all day." Reina understood the need for the privacy that young girls felt they needed, she decided to leave Kagura to herself until she was ready to come out of her room on her own.

"Oh yeah." Kagura took a big bite out of her apple. "I've been studying," she said in between chews.

Raising an eyebrow, Reina looked over the TV. "Nice choice of television." Kagura had turned the channel to _Dragon Ball Z_. They both watched as Nappa unleashed his Saibamen onto the Z fighters. "You are one interesting kid, Yu-chan," Reina chuckled as she walked out of the room.

There was a knock on the front door, and Kagura made an unhappy noise. "Just as the good part is coming on." She began walking towards the door, eyes still on the television as a second knock occurred. "I got it," she shouted. Lucky for her, the show cut to commercial. She walked over to the door and opened it quickly. "Hello," she said with a wide smile. Her smile faded quickly as she saw who was at her door.

"Um… Hi," said a shy looking Emi.

"Yu-chan, who is it," Reina said as she walked over to the door. "Oh, you must be Emi," the mother said as she reached the door.

Emi bowed. "Yes. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Reina smiled. "Come now, no need to be so formal. Come in, come in," the older woman ushered the American girl into the house. "Yu-chan was just watching some television. Although I don't know if you'd like the same shows as her, you can still join her if you wish."

Kagura walked off to the living room, and Emi was about to follow her when she remembered her shoes. She quickly took them off upon remembering and smiled at Reina. "Thank you for welcoming me into your home."

"Hey, you're really good at speaking Japanese. I wish I could say the same about me and English,"

Emi nodded. "That's what I'm told. Mama-san told me she wouldn't let me out with improper Japanese, so she took it upon herself to teach me 'the right way.'"

"How long have you been here in Japan?"

"A little more than a year now. I go back to America during the winter break. I was supposed to leave over the summer, but my sponsor extended my stay."

"Oh, well that's good. Now you must say goodbye before you leave," Reina said with a stern look.

"Of course!"

"Ok, well go ahead and watch TV."

Emi bowed as she was dismissed and went over the living room, where Kagura was laying on the couch still watching _Dragon Ball Z_. She went over and sat on the floor, right at Kagura's feet. They sat there in silence for about ten minutes until the show ended. When the ending theme song came on, Kagura turned the TV off. She stood and began walking away. She paused and looked over at Emi. "Well, don't just sit there. Come with me to my room."

The taller girl nodded and stood up, following Kagura as commanded. They entered Kagura's room and the first thing Emi noticed was Kagura's desk cluttered with textbooks and notebooks. Kagura went over and sat down at her desk chair. Emi took a seat on Kagura' bed. There was a long silence before Emi spoke. "Kag... Yuso, about yesterday..."

Kagura leaned back in her chair. "Yeah?"

"I'm sorry. For all of that. Kaiya should've never said those things."

The young athlete sighed. "Well… she said them. She thinks I'm dumb and you lied to me to get me to start dating you."

Although Kaiya had said hurtful things about her, Emi was quick to defend her. "Yuso, she doesn't think you're dumb. She likes you a lot… Just like Rin and I. She got caught up in the moment." Emi looked down at her feet. "And I'm sorry I lied to you. I should have never done that."

Kagura rocked back and forth on chair. "I don't understand it. You guys are so fixated on me. If I were anyone else, I'd probably find it creepy," she admitted. "I guess I'm so used to the attention that it didn't faze me."

"I know, it doesn't make sense, but we like you," Emi said plainly.

There was no response from Kagura. She just continued to rock back and forth. She observed the American, not knowing what to think. She liked the girl a bit, but not to the extent that Emi liked her. "Emi-chan, I don't know about this whole thing. It's weird. I don't really like situations like this I'm starting to realize. Maybe this is why I avoided thinking about relationships." Kagura looked up at her ceiling. "I don't think we should date. Especially if it causes such a rift with your friends."

Emi was about to protest when Kagura stood up. Kagura went over and gave the girl a kiss on the cheek. "Besides, we're only twelve. There are more important things than dating. Like… Swimming," Kagura said excitedly. "I guess I'll talk to Kaiya later. You shouldn't have to give up your friends. You're here in Japan for fun, not misery!"

The American wiped a few tears from her eyes as she nodded. Kagura was right after all. She should be enjoying her time in Japan, not fretting over petty matters. Emi left Kagura's house shortly after the conversation. Kagura laid in her bed, hands behind her head, happy to have solved that issue. "I'm twelve. How complicated does my life need to be," she thought out loud. "I already have enough on my plate with school and athletics." She looked over at her cluttered desk as she began to fall asleep for an unexpected nap.

**Thanks for reading. Reviews are appreciated. Thanks again!**


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